My man cave build - UK edition

[javadog]

I would have put the 2 x 2 on top of the 2 x 3, but that’s just me…

I like how you are turning any available space into storage space, I did that at my last house too. Can’t have too much storage space.

You’re putting in a lot of insulation, that’s good. Make sure that all the edges are sealed against air movement.

[javadog]

This guy has a product for every possible sealing need:

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Javadog, I tape over all joints using 2" aluminium tape before it's covered over

Been a busy week on my 'window chop shop' production line, was hoping to have all 33 panes of glass done on the external side of each window



Need to wait another week for more wood beading, even though I've reused all the original edge beading I never thought I'd need over 160ft of extra window beading

[Captain Ahab Jr]

For todays activity I took some inspiration from the meth heads that overload their cars when shopping at Home Depot and made myself a 'ghetto' roof rack from bits of old wood and cable ties



Successfully load rated to 225lbs abd speed rated to 70mph



Car was full too!

They're soakaway crates, which are stacked/inter locked together, then wrapped in a permeable membrane blanket, throw the lot into a big hole in the ground, pipe in all the roof rainwater and the water soaks away back into the earth

[daepp]

Nice use of your roof rack - like it a lot!

By way of contrast (but in no way am I saying "better"), in So Cal if the soil is right we dig a pit 8'-10' deep, line it with "filter fabric", fill it half way with gravel, insert the end of the drainage pipe, then fill the rest of the way with more gravel, and then finally, wrap the remaining filter fabric over the top, and landscape to suit. That much gravel can handle a LOT of water, and the filter fabric keeps the "fines" - the smallest dirt/sand particles - from filling up the gravel.

[javadog]

I think you should collect all of your roof rainwater on the uphill side of your property, near the street, and rig system to shoot jets of pressurized water down the curb in the dead of night, so you’ll never have to sweep again.

Should be easy to engineer. Do a little CFD modeling when nobody’s looking.



I hate sweeping my curbs, I get crap from every house in the neighborhood that stops at my curb, because of the topography.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

External side of the windows are all done and painted, very time consuming, nearly 500 pieces of window beading that needed measuring, cutting and fitting



Installing the windows will have to wait as we're getting stuck into a 'while you're in there' job Come on we've all been there!!!

Roof of the original house only has 2" thick insulation board (same R value as 3.5" of mineral wool). I fitted it 15yrs ago but as many winters have proven it wasn't enough to keep the top floor all toasty warm.

New build roof has 6" thick insulation board so we've decided to add another 4" of insulation board. Partly because of the escalation in energy prices and partly due to having access without dragging everything through the house

First job was to empty the room, view is from the stairway looking towards the new build end of the house, the end door way was a window



Original house has 3 floors, with access by two oak spiral stair cases, dogs and the kids all taught from from an early age to 'go wide', the outside lane is the safe lane on these stairs

I have a strong survival instinct as I climbed up two sets of stairs like these when not feeling very sporty, just before I had my cardiac arrest asleep in bed Our local firemen strapped me to a rescue stretcher for the trip down after the paramedics jump started me!

Stone wall is late 1700's, age of the stain glassed window unknown (lower stairs has another stained glass window too), guessing late 50's, 60's or 70's, oak window lintel/sill I fitted 15yrs ago



Work in progress after the 1st week, Mrs. Ahab and I are both on this job, she's a hard worker, no slacking allowed, so I've had to up my game



Don't like to brag but I'm a regional 'hide and seek champion' and try to practice whenever I've got a spare moment

[oldE]

Nice temporary use of the soakaway crates.
How did you get yourself in there?
How did you get out? You DID get out, didn't you?

Best
Les

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Originally Posted by oldE

Nice temporary use of the soakaway crates.
How did you get yourself in there?
How did you get out? You DID get out, didn't you?

Best
Les

Soakaway crates must be a builder's best kept secret, they work great as a lightweight, stable work bench

It's ok I'm out and never going back in!

I lay on my side, head in first, then body, finally legs with lots of bending and cursing in between

Needed to drill a few holes, my ribs couldn't take leaning through the gaps between the vertical timbers any more

[Steve F]

LOVE that stairwell!!! Such a Killer place Captain!

[911 Rod]

Now we need to see the rest of the house after those pictures! Very cool.

[daepp]

Great work Cap'n!

Re those beautiful stairs, what are the circular objects along the wall (shown in yellow)? Have you removed a stair rail/banister?

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Thanks, Steve

Thanks Rod,
Haven't got many photos of the rest of the place, for now here is a picture of our fireplace, doing what it does best, keeping us cosy and burning all the man cave build left overs

Remind me and I'll post up photos of the more interesting house features



Thanks David, you've got a good eye, yes, they supported a rope hand rail, we fitted it when we rented it when we lived in Italy. One lady tenant was on the large side and ripped a couple of them right out of the wall

[daepp]

Originally Posted by daepp

Great work Cap'n!

Re those beautiful stairs, what are the circular objects along the wall (shown in yellow)? Have you removed a stair rail/banister?

Oops - looks like I forgot the pic:

[Superman]

Originally Posted by Captain Ahab Jr

Remind me and I'll post up photos of the more interesting house features

This is your reminder.

Seriously though, take your time but please do this. We would LOVE to see more pictures of this stunning place of yours. We see the ambitious (to say the least) and well-done improvements, and we are noticing this place has a massive amount of character and hundreds of years of history. Just lovely! That fireplace!

And to help put things into perspective for you, we have nothing like this where I live. Over on the other end of the continent, they signed some sort of "Constitution" document, whatever that is, in 1789. Your house was probably already built. Your house was built before Meriwether Lewis and William Clark walked across the continent of North America.

[daepp]

Originally Posted by Superman

This is your reminder.

Seriously though, take your time but please do this. We would LOVE to see more pictures of this stunning place of yours. We see the ambitious (to say the least) and well-done improvements, and we are noticing this place has a massive amount of character and hundreds of years of history. Just lovely! That fireplace!

And to help put things into perspective for you, we have nothing like this where I live. Over on the other end of the continent, they signed some sort of "Constitution" document, whatever that is, in 1789. Your house was probably already built. Your house was built before Meriwether Lewis and William Clark walked across the continent of North America.

Doubleplus 1

[Scott Douglas]

Looking at your pictures makes my body ache sometimes. Like today since I was rolling around on the concrete yesterday changing oil in my wife's car.

I can't believe you have that wood stacked so close to that fire. Doesn't look like you have any draft problem when it's burning. I once lived on a vineyard where the owner's house had giant fireplace very similar to yours. The house was built so air tight that the fire had a problem and would fill the house with smoke because of the draft coming back down the chimney.

Love to see more of your place Capt'n.

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Originally Posted by Superman

This is your reminder.

And to help put things into perspective for you, we have nothing like this where I live. Over on the other end of the continent, they signed some sort of "Constitution" document, whatever that is, in 1789. Your house was probably already built. Your house was built before Meriwether Lewis and William Clark walked across the continent of North America.

Thanks for the interest S'man and David, I'll take some photo's for you guys

Historical perspective is all relative...

Declaration of Independence was signed around the time this house was built over 250 years ago

My previous house was a lot older as it was built when Henry VIII was King 475 years ago

An inn/pub in the nearby town of Stow-on-the-Wold had been a successful business for over 1000 years

Then stuff get crazy old as there is a stone circle in a neighbouring village that was built over 5000 years ago and it's still there today

All the stuff I've helped create during my working life only has a useable life of a few races or one race season at the most ie months not even a full year

Might sound odd but I get a huge amount of satisfaction knowing what we're creating with this build using our own hands should have a useable life of at least a 100 years

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Originally Posted by Scott Douglas

Looking at your pictures makes my body ache sometimes. Like today since I was rolling around on the concrete yesterday changing oil in my wife's car.

I can't believe you have that wood stacked so close to that fire. Doesn't look like you have any draft problem when it's burning. I once lived on a vineyard where the owner's house had giant fireplace very similar to yours. The house was built so air tight that the fire had a problem and would fill the house with smoke because of the draft coming back down the chimney.

Love to see more of your place Capt'n.

There is a ratio between chimney open area to fire hood open area to create enough up draft for the smoke

Can't remember what it is but I worked it out once and our fire place is close to the limit of what works

After I restored the fire place, we burned 3/4 ton of logs over a long weekend but the novelty wore off as it's as costly as running a thirsty V8.

We enjoy a fire most weekend evenings during the winter and when we're done with the Christmas tree we trim the branches off and burn the whole lot

Our house can be drafty as sometimes an upstairs door will creak open and closed when only a small downstairs window is open.

Sounds kind of like how you would expect the inside of pirate ship to sound like in rough seas

[Captain Ahab Jr]

Mildly Interesting Motorsport News Update....
My 'other' work contributed in a small way ie didn't cause a DNF to another Monaco F1 GP win, that's 2 in a row, with 2 different drivers, fingers crossed for another win in 2023

Boring Build News Update...
Mrs Ahab and I have been working 7 days a week for the last 3.5 weeks on this 'while you're in there' job of bringing the roof insulation of the old part of the house into the 21st century

2 layers of 2" thick insulation board have been chopped up into many, many individually shaped bits cut from 30 sheets of 8ft x 4ft board

On the 1st layer all joints/gaps were taped over with 2" wide aluminium self adheisve tape to keep any draughts at bay

Room looks like this now,





Not sure what the situation in the US is like but building material prices have rockets up in price over the last couple of years

Once the plaster boarding has been fitted we'll easily have spent $2500 on materials for this job alone

Next update will be an example of how nothing is square/parallel with our house and at times it makes my OCD rash flare up and itch